I need to know if this is a Midwestern thing or that it’s a missing component in the south.  As an ex-Chicagoan that was raised in Detroit and now lives in Atlanta, it’s a dirty little secret that I’m actually a native of Wisconsin.  I attribute my obsession with cheese as part of my birthright from being born in Milwaukee and living there the first three years of my life.

One of those magical cheese concoctions is string cheese.  In the Midwest, you can get them as single pieces but also have the option to buy it as a “hunk” of multiple slices, usually around 10-12 in one group.  For some reason I can’t find these bundles of string cheese down here (even in the farmer’s markets) and am stuck buying the marginal individual string cheese slices made by your dairy conglomerates.  Are there other parts of the country where you can get these string cheese globs?  I know California is actually a big dairy state; ever hear of these out there?  Does the Northeast have them?  I really miss this kind of cheese since it’s extremely fresh, as opposed to who-knows-when-these-individual-packets were made.

Another cheese gripe since moving to the south is the inferior cottage cheese served down here.  At first I thought they simply didn’t know how to make cottage cheese in a warm climate.  Eventually I found out that large curd cottage cheese is passable, but barely.  Again, does the Midwest make better cottage cheese?  Are the cows down here eating kudzu or some other only-in-the-south ingredient that makes small curd cottage cheese almost inedible?

Needless to say, I always look on the label where cheese is made and if it’s not north of the Mason-Dixon line, I simply don’t buy it anymore.